Details for This Review

Efficacy End Points: Pain-free at one hour, pain-free at two hours, global evaluation, and use of rescue medication within six hours

Harm End Points: Any adverse events

Narrative: Tension-type headaches are common.1 Persons who experience one to 14 tension-type headaches per month are defined as having episodic tension-type headaches,2 and ibuprofen is often used for treatment.

This Cochrane review of 12 studies with 3,094 total participants sought to determine the effectiveness of ibuprofen for episodic tension-type headaches.3 All included trials were randomized comparisons of 400 mg of ibuprofen vs. placebo. Although there was no significant difference between ibuprofen and placebo at one hour, more patients treated with ibuprofen were pain-free at two hours (number needed to treat [NNT] = 14) and more likely to report “very good” or “excellen